Automatic ticket gate

ABSTRACT

An automatic ticket gate wherein when a ticket is used, its information is read, and depending upon whether the information is valid or not the user of the ticket is allowed or not allowed to pass through the gate. When the ticket has been recognized as invalid due to misreading of the ticket information, the information that the ticket information has been misread is recorded on the ticket and the passenger is allowed to pass through the gate despite the recognition of the ticket as invalid, and only when the information of a ticket has been misread successively more than a predetermined number of times, the user of that ticket is not allowed to pass through the gate.

uuucu out Osaki et al.

3,221,304 ll/l965 AUTOMATIC TICKET GATE Keisuke Osaki; lliroshiEgashira; Yasunori Ilayaslii, all of Kyoto, Japan inventors:

Assignee: Omron Tateisi Electronics Co., Kyoto,

Japan Oct. 2|, l970 Filed:

Appl. No.:

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 24, 1969 Japan ..44/85427 US. Cl...340/l49 A, 49/35, 23S/6l.7

Int. Cl. ..H04q 3/02, E05!) 65/00 Field of Search ..49/35; 340/149 R,149 A;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Enikeieff et al ..340/l49 A July4, 1972 3,519,993 7/1970 Sakai 51 al ..340 149 A 3,531,625 9/1970 Mizutaet al. 340 149 A x 3,560,932 2/1971 Morita .340 149 A PrimaryExaminer-J. Karl Bell Altomey-Christensen, Sanborn & Matthews [57]ABSTRACT misread is recorded on the ticket and the passenger isallowedto pass through the gate despite the recognition of the ticket asinvalid, and only when the information of a ticket has been misreadsuccessively more than a predetermined number of times, the user of thatticket is not allowed to pass through the gate.

4 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure AUTOMATIC TICKET GATE This inventionrelatesto an automatic ticket gate and more particularly to a system forautomatically examining or checking the validity of a railway ticket orthe like to control the opening and closing of a gate on the basis ofthe result of the examination.

As is well known, a conventional automatic ticket gate is such that whena passenger presents a ticket at the gate, the validity of the ticket ischecked so that if the ticket is recognized as a valid one, thepassenger is allowed to pass the gate, whereas if it is recognized as aninvalid one, the passenger is blocked. To check the validity of aticket, a ticket information reader reads the information recorded onthe ticket. It often happens that the ticket information reader does notproperly operate so that even a valid ticket is recognized as an invalidone. There are various causes such as that the position of theinformation on the ticket is displaced from where it should be, or theinformation code is damaged or worn off; that the reading head is notdisposed at a proper position relative to the ticket information to beread; and that the card reader itself is out of order. Also there aremany other unknown causes. Therefore, it is not advisable to decide onceand for all the validity or invalidity of a ticket upon reading theticket information only once.

Accordingly, it is one object of the invention to provide an automaticticket gate which operates on the basis of a fail-safe principle.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic ticket gate,wherein when a ticket used at the gate has been recognized as invaliddue to misreading of the ticket information, the information that amisreading has occurred to the ticket is recorded thereon and the ticketis given a provisional validity so that the user of the ticket isallowed to pass the gate, and wherein when the ticket information isread, the record thereon of the information about misreading is alsoread and if the number of times of misreading that has occurredsuccessively to the ticket has reached a predetermined number, theticket is decisivelyrecognized as invalid so that the user thereof isprevented from passing through the gate.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an automatic ticketgate as aforesaid, wherein when a ticket is recognized as valid, therecord thereon of the information of misreading is removed from theticket.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such as automaticticket gate as aforesaid, wherein when misreading of the ticketinformation has occurred more than a predetermined number of times, theticket information reader is considered as being in disorder, so that acorresponding signal is produced.

The invention will be clearly understood by reading the followingdescription with reference to the accompanying drawing showing anelectrical block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Each card used in the system of the invention has a predeterminedinformation magnetically recorded thereon in coded form. To checkwhether the ticket infonnation has been properly read or misread, themethod of parity checking is advantageously employed. Upon paritychecking of the information code on a ticket, if it has been found thatthe code has been misread, an information to that effect, that is, theticket information has been misread (which will be referred to as a"misreading" information) is magnetically recorded at a suitableposition on the ticket. Every time a misreading has been made, onemisreading information is added to the ticket. The ticket informationreader reads the misreading infonnation on the ticket as well as theticket information, and only when the number of misreading informations,that is, the number of times the ticket information has beensuccessively misread exceeds a predetermined number, that ticket isdecisively recognized as invalid.

Even when a ticket has some misreading informations recorded thereon, ifthe ticket information is correctly read the next time the ticket isused, the record of the misreading informations is erased from theticket. Thus, the adverse eflect of misreading of the ticket informationon the efficiency of the ticket gate can be greatly reduced and errorsin the ticket information code can be easily detected.

Every time as a result of parity checking, a misreading has beendetected, that fact is recorded against the ticket information reader bya suitable device, and when the number of times of misreading made bythe same ticket reader has reached a predetermined number, that ticketreader is recognized as being in disorder so that a corresponding signal(disorder signal) is produced.

The system of the invention is most effectively applied to the casewhere the same ticket is repeatedly used, such as a commutation orseason ticket. However, it may also be applied to ordinary tickets whichare used only once. in this case, if a misreading occurs when a ticketis used at an entrance gate, the passenger is allowed to enter the gate.However, if a misreading again occurs with respect to the same ticket atan exit gate, the gate is closed to prevent the passenger from passingtherethrough.

Now referring to the drawing, there is schematically shown a ticket 10inserted into the inlet slot of a ticket gate the mechanicalconstruction of which may be of any known type. The ticket 10 isconveyed by a suitable conveyor, not shown, along a predetermined pathin the direction of an arrow 11. There are provided along the path ofmagnetic heads 12 and 13, the former for reading and the latter forwriting.

The information recorded on the ticket is first detected by the readinghead 12 so as to be transmitted to an information reader 14. The outputfrom the reader 14 is applied to a validity checking circuit 15, whichchecks the validity of the information read from the ticket, such as theterm of availability of the ticket, the range of journey made with theticket, etc. The circuit 15 produces an output on a line 16 when theticket has been recognized as a valid one, and on a line 17 when theticket has been recognized as an invalid one. The signal on the line 16is applied to an OR circuit 18, the output from which appears on a line19. This signal on the line 19 may be used to control a gate bar ortumstile not shown so as to allow the passenger to pass through thegate.

The output from the reader 14 is also applied to a parity checkingcircuit 20, which checks whether any error has been made by the reader14. in reading the information of the ticket. To this end, a parity bit,even or odd, is added to the information bits in each ticket. Uponparity checking, if the circuit 20 has determined that the informationcode has been correctly read, it produces an output on a line 22, whileif the circuit 20 has determined that the information code has not beencorrectly read, it produces an output on a line 23. The determinationthat the code has not been correctly read means that the informationcode on the ticket is wrong or insufficient, or the reading head is outof order, or the relative position of the reading head to theinformation code on the ticket is not proper, so that a misreading hasoccurred.

The output from the reader 14 is also applied as an input to a register24. This input is the misreading information recorded on the ticket. Themisreading information contains how many times the information on theticket has been successively misread until then and, upon recognition ofeach misreading, the ticket has been provisionally recognized as valid.In other words, the misreading information is recorded on each ticket asthe number of times of the fail-safe operation that has until then beensuccessively performed with respect to that ticket. Thus, the input tothe register 24 is applied as a number corresponding to the number oftimes of the fail-safe operation. The register 24 stores the number,which is then applied as one input to a comparator. 26. A referencenumber setting circuit 25 applies a predetermined number as anotherinput to the comparator 26. Let it be assumed that the number stored inthe register 24 is m and the number preset in the circuit 25 is n. Thecomparator 26 compares the two numbers m and n and produces an output ona line 27 only when the number m is greater than thenumber n. Therefore,when an output appears on the line 27, it indicates that misreading hasoccurred more than the predetermined number of times.

The output on the line 27 is applied as an inhibit signal to a gatecircuit 28, to which the previously mentioned output on the line 23 isapplied as an input. Therefore, while the signal exists on the line 27,the gate 28 does not produce any output, but while no signal exists onthe line 27, the signal on the line 23 causes the gate 28 to produce anoutput to be applied to the OR circuit 18. This means that so long asthe number m of times of the fail-safe operation recorded on the ticketdoes not exceed the preset number n, even when the ticket informationhas been misread the signal on the line 23 cause the OR circuit 18 toproduce an output on the line 19, which operates the gate so as to passthe passenger therethrough. However, when m is greater than n, due tothe signal on the line 27 the gate 28 and consequently the OR circuit 18does not produce any output on the line 19.

The outputs on the lines 17 and 22 are applied as two inputs to an ANDcircuit 29. As previously mentioned, when the ticket information read isinvalid, the validity checking circuit produces an output on the line17, and when no error has been made in reading the ticket information,the circuit produces an output on the line 22. Then, the AND circuit 29produces an output on a line 30. This signal is applied to an OR circuit31, which produces an output on a line 32. This signal is used to closethe gate or keep it closed to prevent the passenger from passing it.

As previously mentioned, when the number m stored in the register 24 isgreater than the preset number n, the comparator 26 produces an outputon the line 27. This signal is also applied to the OR circuit 31, sothat the passenger is prevented from passing through the gate.

The signals on the lines 23 and 34 are applied to an accumulator 33, towhich the signal'on the line 16 is applied as a reset input. Aspreviously mentioned, the signal on the line 34 is the number m of timesof the fail-safe operation performed with the ticket until then andstored in the register 24, and the signal on the line 23 is the signalwhich is produced when parity checking has disclosed that the ticketinformation has been misread. In other words, this latter signal meansthat another fail-safe operation is to be performed with respect to thatticket and corresponds to the number of l. The accumulator 33 adds thetwo numbers m and l and produces an output corresponding to m l to beapplied to a writer 35, so that the writing head 13 erases the number mrecorded on the ticket until then and instead writes the number of m lthereon.

However, when the information read has been recognized as valid, withoutany error or misreading having been made, the signal on the line 16resets the accumulator 33 so that the writing head 15 rewrites thenumber m on the ticket as 0. In this case, those errors or misreadingsthat have been made till then may be considered as having been caused bysome disorder of the reading device, and the ticket information, ashaving been actually valid, so that the record on the ticket of themisreading or fail-safe information may be erased therefrom withoutcausing any inconvenience.

The output produced on the line 23 is also applied to an accumulator 41,which accumulates the signals received every time a misreading hasoccurred. The output from the accumulator 4], that is, the number oftimes misreading has occurred is applied as one input to a comparator42, to which a reference number setting circuit 43 applies apredetermined number as the other input. The comparator 42 compares thetwo input numbers and produces an output on a line 44 when the formernumber exceeds the latter, that is, when misreading or fail-safeoperation has been performed more than a predetermined number of times.This condition is considered as indicating that the ticket reader is outof order and the signal on the line 44 is used as a disorder signal togive a suitable warning or indication. The; accumulator 41 is reset by areset signal applied through a line manually or automatically uponpassage of each predetermined period of time.

In the above description, the ticket information is given in the form ofmagnetic code. It may be given in the form of punched holes. In thiscase, a photoelectric device is used to read the ticket information,However, in view of the easiness of reading and writing, it IS moreconvenient to record the number of times of misreading or fail-safeoperation on the ticket by means of magnetic code. With respect toparity checking any known method may be employed.

If the ticket is an ordinary one which is used first at an entrance gateand later at an exit gate alone, the reference number n of times offail-safe operation set in the circuit is 1 and the number of m storedin the register 24 never exceeds 1. Therefore, in this case thearrangement may be such that the comparator 26 produces an output on theline 27 when m Thus, in accordance with the invention, so long as thenumber of times the information of a ticket repeatedly used has beensuccessively misread does not exceed a predetermined number, thepassenger with that ticket is allowed to pass the gate. However, whenthe number of times of misreading successively made on the same ticketexceeds the predetermined number, the passenger is no longer allowed topass the gate. This makes it possible not only to avoid confusion at thegate caused by mere misreading of the ticket information but also todetect invalid tickets after permitting use of that ticket only a fewtimes. When the ticket information has been correctly read again evenafter it was once misread, the record of the misreading or fail-safeoperation that has been made until then is removed from the ticket,thereby restoring the ticket to the original proper condition withoutcausing any inconvenience to the owner. In addition, it is possible withthe system of the invention to detect disorders of the ticketinformation reading device.

What we claim is:

1. An automatic ticket gate, comprising: means for reading theinformation of each ticket used at the gate; means for checking thevalidity of said information read by said reading means; means operablein response to said checking means to control passage through said gate;means for detecting misreading of said ticket information made by saidreading means; means for accumulating the number of times of themisreading successively made on said same ticket; means for recordingsaid accumulated number of times on said ticket; and means for readingsaid recorded number of times from each said ticket and causing saidpassage control means to allow passage through said gate unless saidrecorded number exceeds a predetermined number.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said recording means removes from saidticket said recorded number of times of misreading when said ticketinformation has been correctly read again.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said ticket has recorded thereon aplurality of information bits and a parity bit and said misreadingdetecting means performs parity checking on said bits.

4. The system of claim 1, further including means for storing the numberof times of misreading made by said reading means and means forproducing a signal indicating that said reading means is in disorderwhen said number has reached a predetermined number.

* I In

1. An automatic ticket gate, comprising: means for reading theinformation of each ticket used at the gate; means for checking thevalidity of said information read by said reading means; means operablein response to said checking means to control passage through said gate;means for detecting misreading of said ticket information made by saidreading means; means for accumulating the number of times of themisreading successively made on said same ticket; means for recordingsaid accumulated number of times on said ticket; and means for readingsaid recorded number of times from each said ticket and causing saidpassage control means to allow passage through said gate unless saidrecorded number exceeds a predetermined number.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein said recording means removes from said ticket said recordednumber of times of misreading when said ticket information has beencorrectly read again.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein said ticket hasrecorded thereon a plurality of information bits and a parity bit andsaid misreading detecting means performs parity checking on said bits.4. The system of claim 1, further including means for storing the numberof times of misreading made by said reading means and means forproducing a signal indicating that said reading means is in disorderwhen said number has reached a predetermined number.